Madison Hahamy Photo
Elizabeth Rosenthal: Feels pandemic’s toll on her clients.
For the first time in her 15 years as a legal aid lawyer, Elizabeth Rosenthal felt tears welling up as she addressed a judge.
Rosenthal, of New Haven Legal Assistance Association, was in virtual court, before state housing court Judge Claudia Baio.
She was in court during the session last week representing yet another tenant who is facing eviction in the pandemic.
The judge and the landlord’s attorney were asking repeated questions about why the tenant wasn’t spending more of the little money she had on rent instead of food and schools supplies for her kids.
She started assailing a “broken” system that was wreaking havoc on the lives of so many of her clients. That’s when she choked up.
“Rent eats first,” she said, quoting eviction chronicler Matthew Desmond, referring to the way fixed housing costs push families in precarious positions into dire circumstances.
Rosenthal’s tenant was being sued by Sahn Del LLC, represented by Ian Gottlieb, for nonpayment of rent of $1,050 per month since April 2020 on an apartment her family rents in New Haven’s Hill neighborhood. (Sahn Del LLC is owned by Shmuel Aizenberg, whose Ocean Management real-estate group owns low-income properties throughout the city.)
Initially, the tenant was self-represented and alleged that the apartment was “falling apart” as a potential housing violation. Once Rosenthal signed onto the case, she instead sought to have the eviction stayed through a federal Centers for Disease Control (CDC) moratorium, which is currently in effect until June 30.
For the moratorium to apply, tenants need to have an annual income of less than $99,000, demonstrate that they would be homeless if they were evicted, and use “best efforts” to find rental assistance and make partial rental payments.
It was this last point that caused the tears to flow.
Because the tenant was not paying any rent, Gottlieb claimed at the April 1 hearing that best efforts weren’t being made and that the eviction should move forward.
Rosenthal claimed that her client’s meager monthly income also had to go towards food for her children, the internet for remote learning and the car payment so she could travel to work, which were all more important than “giving the landlord a fraction of the rent.” A landlord who, she added, is extremely wealthy.
Gottlieb countered that the landlord was “losing money in the seven figures” and that the tenant was not the only casualty of the pandemic.
Her client was a perfect example of who the CDC moratorium is supposed to help, Rosenthal said. While it was impossible for her to contribute money towards rent when she had children and other needs that were more important than partial payments, she has made “diligent” efforts to apply for various types of rental assistance, such as Unite CT and the Homeless Prevention Program. She was doing all that she could in the circumstances.
At this point, Rosenthal became visibly emotional as she told the court that the attorneys and the judge “can’t imagine what it’s like to be in [the tenant’s] position.”
Should the case not be ruled in her client’s favor, the court would be responsible for “throwing a mother of three out in a pandemic,” Rosenthal stated.
Judge Claudia Baio asked Rosenthal if she needed a five-minute recess to compose herself. Rosenthal responded in the affirmative.
After the recess, Judge Baio told both parties that she admired their passion.
“Your clients should be proud,” she said, adding that these cases are “exceptionally hard” and both parties are often hurting.
After the hearing, Judge Baio issued a ruling that the CDC declaration does apply in the case, ruling in favor of Rosenthal’s client. She also noted, in her ruling, that “each side zealously advocated for their position.”
Rosenthal hailed this as a victory that will allow her client “a chance to figure out what her game plan is.”
“I feel sheepish, because I’ve never cried in court before,” Rosenthal said later.
Rosenthal, 44, began her career with legal aid in Chicago in 2006 after a federal clerkship.
“It was sort of surprising to me that I got quite so emotional,” she said of her experience in court last week. “Once I started, I almost couldn’t stop. But I think I just became really overwhelmed with how broken the system is, and how broken it is just on every level.”
“Protection from homelessness and exposure to a life-threatening disease seemed to turn on whether my client had paid for food and to keep her lights on rather than a pittance payment to a landlord with millions of dollars in rental properties.”
Rosenthal noted that three people — she, Judge Baio, and Gottlieb — were “sitting in judgment of this Black woman with children” with a lived experience that the three of them could “only begin to imagine.”
“And I’m in judgment too because part of what I do in interviews with clients … is go through exactly what the judge and attorney went through yesterday, making these judgments about, ‘What were you spending this money on?’ And ‘Why couldn’t you make payments to the landlord?’” she said. “And it feels awful.”
“It’s so hard sometimes when you feel you’re a cog in that wheel,” Rosenthal said of her work within the legal system. “I’m a part of that system. I’m there by my client’s side, but I’m there by my client’s side trying to make a broken system a little bit better for them.”
Every week, New Haven Legal Assistance takes on more than ten new cases, which will sometimes happen the night before a client’s hearing. Without their representation, the clients would likely have to represent themselves, which, Rosenthal said, would likely end with eviction.
Legal aid doesn’t have the resources to help everyone. And, Rosenthal said, the number of eviction cases filed is not abating, despite moratoriums on the state and national level.
When the moratorium ends, Rosenthal predicts a “tsunami” of evictions.
“It’s going to be a big crisis with lots of cascading consequences,” she added.
For her part, Rosenthal plans to be there through it all — and expects fewer “little moments of a meltdown” in the future.